Our Escapades in the last two weeks

Hello everyone!
A lot has happened since last we wrote, so I decided the best way to give you a taste would be to highlight the main events and say a little blurb about them.
EMM/MCC East Africa Retreat: Very relaxing and fun, except for the times when we were in charge of the kids programs. Brook had one girl who kicked, punched, and bit him and even tried to cut his hair on one occasion. I wasn't expecting to lead a group and Colin and I had to wing it. Other than that it was good to talk to the workers in the area and learn more about this place. We even got a talk on how to best deal with begging and other money issues from on of the workers.
Arriving in Songhor: 6-7 hours after we left the retreat we arrived in a little compound with lots of chickens, goats, and children running around, where the Agola men and their families have compounds, before leaving their father's home. We made two children cry because they were startled to see our white skin. The family here is very accommodating and also very fun and we find ourselves enjoying it here even though the conditions are by western standards fairly primitive.
Swahili Lessons: Tuna mwalimu mzuri. Yeye ni mwanamume mzee.
Trans: We have a good teacher. He is an old man (to call someone old in Kenya is a term of respect and wouldn't be considered an insult as it would be in the states).
Swahili lessons are going well, and we hope to be speaking it semi-fluently as soon as possible before going to Chepilat. I am doing noticeably better than the other guys – but we've been told that overall we're learning much faster than the previous teams, which is good.
Tunataka kusoma kuongea Kiswahili kizuri, na ninafikiri tunaweza, kama tukajaribu (We want to learn to speak good swahili, and I think we can, if we try).
Christmas in Kenya: It was a little strange to be in a place were there was practically no Christmas season – even in the home. It just kind of snuck up on us and then sort of sauntered away. We did go to church in the morning though.
Church in Sanghor: We were told church started at 10, but we ended up leaving the house at 10:40ish, and church started at 11. We gathered with the leaders in the back, and who was running which part of the service (translation, reading, prayer, organization, the sermon) were divied up. We weren't prepared, so they let us get off with reading the verse, but tomorrow we're expected to lead worship, and one of us might have to spontaneously preach a sermon too – you never know. The service was very long, with some good singing, and a few good sermons, and then an offering, part of which included auctioning off a chicken, a coca-cola bottle filled with honey, and a bunch of plantains. We ended by shaking everyone's hands and wishing everyone a Happy Christmas.
Saturday: We decided that we needed to climb the mountains next to Sanghor, so we rose at five to do so, lit by the stars above our heads. We got to the top about 45 minutes before sunrise, and were dazzled by God's creation with absolutely breathtaking views not just down to the village but in all four directions (around a cell phone tower that Safaricom had erected). After we came back down we spent the rest of the morning learning to wash our clothes by hand. As I had several open sores from climbing and Taylor developed blisters, the vigorous scrubbing and rinsing proved painful, but by the end, we had all resolved from here on to:
1. Be more economical with our clothes.
2. Buy sandals so we wouldn't have to wear socks so much (except Brook, who already knew this).

So, our time in Kenya has been very good so far. We've been getting acclimated, meeting people, and learning swahili, and we can't wait to finally get to Chepilat to settle down in two weeks!

Please continue to pray for us as we learn Swahili and figure out everything that we need to do.

God Bless you all,
Stefan